Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 294: Altaïr's Observations of Tyr
The Nizari Ismailis, a religious sect in the mountains, are derogatory names of the Assassins. They have completely different values ​​from the ordinary Muslim rulers of this era.

In the 12th century, although religion had a strong influence in the Muslim world, unlike Catholicism, whether it was the Sultan, the Caliph or the Emir, they were all secular rulers.

Simply put, when they consider issues, they must consider them from the perspective of secular rulers, which has shaped the characteristics of the Muslim world. Although they emphasize religious beliefs, they are actually much more secular than their contemporary Catholic clergy.

But the Nizari Ismailis were different. To outsiders, they seemed to have extremely fanatical beliefs, but the fact that they were willing to sacrifice themselves for their beliefs without hesitation in the 12th century showed that they were incompatible with normal Muslim sects.

However, Altaïr and his companions were too lazy to clarify such issues. They had been misunderstood many times, and if they went up to argue with someone who spread rumors, they would not be able to live a good life.

However, the chance encounter in Antioch made Nizari Ismaili and his men encounter someone with whom they could not get along normally.

After all, there are people who claim to be prophets every year, even Assassin himself has appeared before, but those who have truly performed miracles...

To be precise, it is possible to perform miracles in front of this group of people, but they have never seen it before.

In the hope of achieving friendly coexistence and enhancing mutual understanding, the Nizari Ismailis sent a delegation to visit Tyre shortly after the Kingdom of Jerusalem conquered Acre.

Apart from the desire to verify whether Garys was real or not, he also hoped to establish good relations with the kingdom.

1190, Palestine, Port of Tyre.

This port, which originally did not have a very prominent position on the eastern Mediterranean coast, has become the focus of attention along the Mediterranean coast in recent days.

The war that occurs here will directly affect the prices of commodities in many places along the Mediterranean coast, which naturally concerns countless maritime merchants.

However, what was unexpected was that after Barbarossa was defeated here, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which was on the verge of destruction, actually relied on its own strength to easily capture the major trading port nearby, the Port of Acre.

When everyone's attention was drawn to this place, they discovered that this originally unknown port of Tyre had been transformed in just one year and became the base headquarters for the revival of Jerusalem.

Looking at the present-day Kingdom of Jerusalem, the government in the city of Tyre, and the King's Council.

It has become the new ruling center, and the new city area is the most prosperous trade and production center in almost the entire Palestinian region.

For the locals who are accustomed to the slow pace of life in agricultural society, Tyre, the base camp of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, is as busy as a beehive.

Anyone who comes to Tyre for the first time can usually feel the busy, tense and energetic fast-paced atmosphere as soon as they step onto the dock, and this feeling will only become more profound as they walk out of the city walls along the main road of the city.

In this port with masts like a forest, all kinds of ships come and go, and a large number of pilot boats are interspersed among them, arranging berthing positions for ships coming from afar.

Relying on a series of long piers, most ships arriving at the Tyre dock usually do not need to use small boats to transfer goods and personnel, which is time-consuming and laborious. Many suitable goods can even be directly lifted and loaded and unloaded using manual cranes, thus saving a lot of time and manpower.

When the goods are transferred to the dock, representatives of the porters' association will come to negotiate the price with the ship owner. Nowadays, the prices of porters in the entire Tyre Port are uniformly set, and competition by lowering prices is not allowed at all.

During this process, the association only took 10% as funds to maintain the operation of the association and to provide relief to disabled workers. Apart from that, it did not take a penny more, thus ensuring that the porters were paid for their work and the more they worked, the more they would be paid, instead of being exploited by villains as before.

The Porters' Association not only solves the problem of income distribution, but also trains the porters on how to work and plans several roads specifically for transporting goods, so as to improve the efficiency of transporting goods from the dock to the warehouse.

In the eastern Mediterranean, only the Tyre port has a ship turnover cycle that can be calculated in hours and days, rather than weeks and years.

Time is money, and loading and unloading goods at the Port of Tyre means saving countless amounts of money. Being able to complete loading and unloading a week earlier than other ports means being able to seize the market earlier than competitors.

This naturally attracted a large number of maritime merchants to choose to transship goods at the Port of Tyre.

Every day, countless people come here and leave here. This process of coming and going makes the city of Tyre increasingly prosperous.

Then, under the warm autumn sun of 1190, another group of passengers arrived in Tyre on a passenger galley operated by the Jerusalem Navy.

This group of passengers were dressed completely differently from the ordinary Christian merchants of the past. They had a very strong Muslim temperament, which made them incompatible with the people of Tyre Port.

Although people may look at them strangely, no one will bother them because of their religion. Those guys who tried to shout "In the name of the father" and then rob have now been sent to the mines to mine.

Some policemen who were maintaining order at the dock not far away noticed their attire and came over to ask if they were a delegation from the Nizari Ismaili sect. After receiving an affirmative answer, they had someone guide them to the oxcart that had been waiting for a long time on the side.

Riding on a special ox cart, they traveled through the city of Tyre, left the city gate and arrived at an inn specially prepared for them. Here, there was a special docking team to welcome Altaïr and his party.

Considering that Assassin's name was a little too famous in the Palestinian region, for the sake of convenience, the kingdom did not hold a grand welcome at the dock.

In fact, the visit and inspection sent by Nizari Ismail was done quietly from beginning to end, without alarming any force except the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

The secret agreement reached between Nizari Ismaili and the Kingdom of Jerusalem was known only to the most core people.

It has to be said that life in Tyre is truly surprising. On the first night that Altaïr checked into the hotel, someone came to instruct them how to use the equipment in the hotel.

Unlike ordinary hotels, the hotel arranged by the Kingdom of Jerusalem for Altaïr and his companions may be small in size, but it is surprisingly clean and tidy, even giving people a spotless feeling.

The appliances in the rooms of the delegation members are sometimes confusing. For example, the kerosene lamps here are designed differently from those in other places in the Middle East. They use glass covers.

Once the kerosene lamps here are lit, they are very bright, without the dimness of other kerosene lamps.

And those luxury soaps with added fragrances were provided to them free of charge, which made people sigh at the luxury of this hotel.

However, these things are still understandable. When truly incomprehensible things appear in front of the delegation, they are puzzled, such as the faucet in the public bathroom that can produce water with just a turn.

The public baths in Tyre are different from those in other parts of the Middle East. There are no common bathing pools here. Instead, people take showers under water pipes. As long as they open the special cold water valve or hot water valve, hot and cold water will rush down and wash away all the dirt.

But Artair really couldn't understand how this was done, so he specifically asked the waiter next to him, and finally got an answer that was even more puzzling to him.

"You mean, a water tower was built in the new city area to bring filtered clean water up there, just to deliver clean water here?"

Altaïr asked the waiter beside him in surprise. He really couldn't understand the meaning of such behavior.

The waiter didn't know much, and just said that tap water can ensure drinking water safety, prevent the spread of plague, and reduce diseases. Altaïr obviously didn't believe it, but he couldn't find any other reason to explain the Kingdom of Jerusalem's fuss.

In this day and age, many people think that building a water tower specifically for drinking water is unnecessary.

As for specifically transporting the pipes to the home, that is even more puzzling.

Then before leaving, the waiter said that although tap water is relatively safe, it still needs to be boiled before drinking, so if you need to drink water, please go to the front desk to get boiled hot water.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem has also invested considerable energy in public health, especially after the sale of bonds for the new city area, which gave the royal government a sum of money.

A special amount of the funds for developing the new urban area was set aside for the construction of water towers and the establishment of public drinking water points.

The new town of Tyre was the first place to implement this plan. In the newspapers of Tyre, the plan was touted as miraculous, and it was predicted that the project would increase the average life expectancy of the town's population from 36 years old in this era to 40 years old.

In fact, the Tyre newspaper was too conservative. But there was nothing we could do. We couldn't say that once technology developed, it would not be a problem for the average life expectancy to rise to 60. That would be too scary.

Actions such as drinking boiled water and going to public toilets were promoted by newspapers as things that devout believers must do.

Altaïr didn't understand these things, but that didn't stop him from wanting to take a quick bath. The arduous journey had made him feel smelly.

As for drinking water, he finally chose to follow the local customs. After all, drinking some hot water would indeed be more comfortable in this season.

……

In short, after checking into the hotel, Altaïr and the other members of their delegation took a nice hot shower to wash away the dust they had picked up during the journey. After using hard soap, they felt their whole bodies smelled fragrant and were extremely refreshed.

After changing into a clean outfit, Altaïr took one of his brothers out of the hotel while it was still early, intending to take a good look at this unique city.

The new city area of ​​Tyre is not very large. Generally speaking, there are several horizontal and vertical main roads that divide the new city area into several large areas.

These areas include special handicraft areas, special residential areas, special commercial areas and special church areas.

The main street of Tyre is paved with stone slabs and is much wider than the streets in other cities.

The middle lane is where only horse-drawn carriages, ox-drawn carts, rickshaws and livestock are allowed to pass.

There were special sidewalks on both sides of the street for pedestrians to walk on. Altaïr felt very comfortable walking on them and did not have to worry about giving way to carriages.

The New City area is not as busy as the dock area, but it is still bustling with traffic. What is even more amazing is that the roads here are very clean. Not only is there no garbage, but even fruit peels. There is no trace of beggars that you would see in other cities.

Altair and his companions subconsciously felt that this place was particularly rich and the people lived in peace. However, what he did not know was that within the walls of Tyre, there were still large slums waiting for Garys to govern.

As Altaïr and his brother walked on this comfortable sidewalk, they felt that there were so many shops in this city, selling everything from food, drinks, toys, and daily necessities...

When you walk into those shops, you can also see some colorful little jewelry, eye-catching gorgeous candies, and transparent soaps with flower petals embedded in them... There are even specialty stores selling cold drinks and desserts on this street!
However, they walked in and looked at the prices and then left. It was not because Artair could not afford it, but mainly because he felt it was not worth spending so much money just to enjoy himself.

If possible, Altaïr would like to spend the money wisely rather than spend it on personal enjoyment. After all, he is a man with ideals and pursuits who are free from vulgar interests.

Altaïr and his brothers walked and strolled along the way. They would go into any shop they saw without buying anything, and they didn't care at all when they received various cold stares.

They took a quick tour of the new city of Tyre, and as the sun was setting, Altaïr pulled his brothers, who were still eager to see more, and planned to find a nearby restaurant to satisfy their appetites and try the unique dishes here.

However, when they entered a restaurant, Altaïr ran into someone he knew. After recognizing the man chatting with a lady in the restaurant, Altaïr lowered his head and prepared to leave, but before he could step out of the restaurant door, he was patted on the shoulder.

"haven't seen you for a long time?"

Altaïr didn't need to look back to know that it was Joss behind him.

Was he familiar with Jos? Not really, they had only met a few times.

But Joss was a very outgoing person. He didn't know how this guy recognized him, but he came up to him and acted very familiar with him. Altaïr couldn't pretend not to know him.

"Since you are so lucky to meet us from such a long distance, why don't you come over and sit down and have a meal together? There is a restaurant nearby that is very affordable. Consider it my treat."

Altaïr exchanged glances with his brothers in the order, and just as they were about to refuse, their stomachs began to growl.

"That's not so good. I mean, don't you have an appointment with someone else?" While speaking, Altaïr glanced at the woman behind Joss.

"Nothing wrong with that. Let me introduce you. This is my wife, Giovanna, and this is a friend I met in Antioch. We had business dealings at that time."

Joanna smiled friendlyly at the right time, trying her best to resolve the visible awkwardness between Altaïr and Joss.

She had just married José, whose father was a wealthy Italian businessman. Although it was not the result of a free love relationship, both parties were quite satisfied with each other. Although Giovanna's family was much inferior to that of José, who was becoming more and more powerful, José did not mind it.

Since the man's wife had no objection, Altaïr had nothing to say. Altaïr motioned for Joss to order the food. After all, he had no impression of the food here and didn't know what to eat.

However, Jos shook his head and said, "You have to get whatever you want in the restaurant here. The food is at the counter. Just ask the chef to help you get it. I'll pay the bill in the end. Don't be polite to me."

As he spoke, Joss led the three of them to the counter on the other side of the restaurant. The long counter was filled with large square wooden boxes, which contained a wide variety of dishes. However, Artair could not recognize the names of some of the dishes at all.

To eat here, diners take a large plate, ask the chef to scoop a spoonful of whatever they want, and then walk to the end of the counter to pay. It doesn't cost much, and a bowl of soup is provided.

"By the way, I forgot to tell you not to order those dishes." Jos suddenly said to Artair, pointing at a few dishes that were not particularly special, one of which was meatballs.

"What's wrong?" Altaïr understood what was going on.

“Those are not kosher.” Jos reminded carefully. The so-called non-kosher food simply means that it is not halal.

The concept of kosher food is not unique to Islam. It was also stipulated in the Torah of ancient Judaism.

There are similar sayings in Christianity, but people generally do not take the Old Testament seriously.

The only regulations prohibit the consumption of meat offered to evil gods and animals that have been strangled.

In the Old Testament, Leviticus Chapter 11 records a list of various animals that can be eaten and those that cannot be eaten.

The list first divided animals into two categories: "clean" and "unclean". The latter could not only not be eaten, but also could not touch their carcasses, and even their smells could not be touched, otherwise they would be unclean until the evening and had to wash their clothes.

If it falls into an object, either wash it or break it (pottery).

Water contaminated by corpses is the most taboo of all.

Altaïr felt sincerity and respect from Joss's actions. In fact, Joss didn't need to remind Altaïr, and Altaïr's own sect didn't pay much attention to these things. But as a pagan, Joss was able to put himself in Altaïr's shoes and notice these details for Altaïr, which was quite touching.

It could even be said that Altaïr saw a glimmer of hope in Joss's behavior.

"Thank you." Altaïr's thanks were very sincere.

"You're welcome. This is what we should do. Next time when you order food, pay attention to the non-kosher items. They are actually marked."

Jos pointed to several signs under the Meatballs note.

"This symbol means it is not suitable for Muslims to eat, and this symbol means it is not suitable for Jewish people to eat..."

Unlike later generations who labeled various foods as halal, in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Gelis did the opposite and labeled foods that were not suitable for consumption by their respective religions. This was done to minimize conflicts between religions and allow the government to retain the power to guide changes in social customs.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem had a small territory and a small population, but the number of religious sects was so great that it was difficult to count them on one hand. It can be said that Palestine was both a melting pot of nations and a melting pot of religions.

If religious conflicts are not properly handled, Palestine will always be a torn Palestine.

But in Gellis's view, dealing with religious issues does not mean religious isolation where everyone is isolated from each other.

In fact, the more we emphasize the differences between people, the more we create barriers.

The more you divide people from each other, the more you create prejudice and indifference. But forcing unification without distinction is actively creating conflicts.

In Gellis's view, actively labeling certain foods halal and narrowing the norm is the former, while forcing certain people to break taboos is the latter.

In a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society, what is often needed is mutual respect, kind tolerance and reminders.

And on this basis, a higher level and a new category of consensus and recognition are created.

If we forcibly classify a category of food as halal, then does that mean we respect and tolerate other nationalities and religions?

On the one hand, they say they want respect and tolerance, but on the other hand, they resist the traditions and customs of other ethnic groups and religions. Once the conflicts escalate and intensify, the only option is to keep quiet.

Regarding this issue, the Kingdom of Jerusalem gave a friendly reminder from the government's perspective. As for whether to comply, it is entirely up to the individual and it is not mandatory.

As for later generations, contrary to popular belief, it was only after the establishment of industrial civilization that the Muslim world was able to meet the detailed and full-process halal needs. Southeast Asia has a halal industrial system that uses modern industrialization to achieve standardization from raw materials to products, or absolute halalization.

"To be honest, I've never eaten pork before." Having said this, Artair signaled the chef behind the counter to make a portion of meatballs.

Giovanna was a little surprised, and Jos raised his eyebrows. However, the chef and the brothers beside Altaïr were not surprised.

If Muslims really follow the advice in the Quran, there are many things they should not eat.

[O you who believe! Eat of the good things We have provided for you, and give thanks to Allah. Forbidden to you is only dead meat, blood, and the flesh of swine, and that which is slaughtered without the name of Allah, if you worship Him alone.]

——"Quran, Volume 2, Verses 172-173"

"Eating unclean food will only invalidate the 40-day fast. God will not care if you break the fast occasionally."

Altaïr is actually making a sophistry here. The sixth Imam, Jafari, did not recommend Muslims to eat unclean food if they have a choice.

To put it bluntly, this guy has never eaten pork before, but this time he smelled the meat and wanted to try it.

Of course, the Assassins these days, purely from the perspective of their own doctrines, actually have no taboos.

The chefs in the restaurant are no longer surprised by these Muslims who clearly violate Islamic law but are stubborn in their attitude.

In fact, the problem of breaking precepts is not a big deal. On the contrary, the problem of "occasionally breaking precepts is not a big problem" is more serious, because many jurists are concerned about the believers' respect for the principles of jurisprudence, and they are not concerned about the deeds but the heart.

Unlike Altaïr, who broke the rules, his brothers strictly followed the advice on the labels on the counter and chose to eat kosher food.

After everyone was seated, the four of them started eating, but Altaïr felt a little regretful. Although the meatballs smelled delicious, he was not used to the taste, and they felt a little too greasy, which was not very comfortable to eat.

But even so, Altaïr still insisted on finishing the meatballs. After all, there were a lot of people in Palestine who couldn't get enough food these days, so if he ordered something, he should finish it, and food shouldn't be wasted.

And the taste is not bad, I just can't get used to it.

After the meal, Joss briefly talked to Altaïr about his current position and situation, while Altaïr did not say much. The two sides waved goodbye, and then Altaïr went to the restaurant to ask for a bowl of water to rinse his mouth.

After returning to the hotel, Altaïr and his brothers went back to their respective rooms to pray, washed up and then lay down on the bed to rest. The journey from Latakia to Tyre was not very nostalgic, and the fatigue was deep in their bones.

……

The next day, the government of the Kingdom of Jerusalem sent a special person to the hotel to meet with them.

After expressing their desire to sign a non-aggression agreement, the delegation also expressed their desire to conduct a deeper investigation into the Kingdom of Jerusalem and learn more about this country that seems to be completely different from the past.

The people from the Kingdom of Jerusalem nodded in agreement. The more people knew about the things that were out in the open, the better. This would actually avoid some unnecessary conflicts.

However, Altaïr said something at this time that made the other party a little hesitant.

“I want to go to Transjordan.”

Although Transjordan is not a forbidden area, the rights and responsibilities involved cannot be explained in one sentence, so he simply said: "I need to ask for instructions."

Altaïr was not in a hurry, he just hoped it could be done as soon as possible. In his opinion, the new city of Tyre was already so prosperous, so the Transjordan mentioned by Gellis would only be better.

(End of this chapter)